


Dirty Hands

by pacco1



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Minor Character Death, Multi, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25812751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacco1/pseuds/pacco1
Summary: Samuel Conall is a stranger in America. Four months after the Apocalypse had enveloped the world, he is alone and wandering. As he treks through the woods of Georgia he comes across a girl and saved her from certain death. But little does he know that this one action will cause him to become involved with Rick Grimes and his group.
Relationships: Bath Greene/OC, Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee, Rick Grimes/Michonne
Kudos: 15





	1. A Man in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo good people. I have here for you an OC story because I enjoy writing them and figure what the hell let's post it. Anywho I'm bringing this over from FFN and I'll be posting a chapter a week. Hope y'all like it!

**Ch.1**

Sam stared out at the woods and grimaced as he saw another Walker stumbling through the trees. It trudged through the bushes and the trees making a series of grunting noises with every step it took.

He could see the torn and bloody clothes of it. A hiker by the looks of the boots and shredded backpack that was clinging to the Walker's body by a thread.

It wasn't a threat. He could just leave it and keep going. But it had been a while since he had used his machete and letting his skills get rusty was definitely something that he wanted to avoid.

"Oh to hell with it," he muttered to himself as he unsheathed his blade. Just as he was about to rush it he heard the faintest of gasps. He looked just a bit farther in front of the Walker and saw a little girl. She couldn't have been more than eleven. There she was though, stumbling in front of a Walker in the middle of the woods.

Sam charged the Walker and sunk his machete deep into its skull. The blade was pulled out and a small amount of blood squirted out of the deep cut in the Walker's skull.

The little girl screamed and stumbled back. She lost her balance and fell down to the ground.

A snarl alerted Sam that there was another Walker. He spun around and saw what looked to be a Ranger with its pants down, shriveled and slightly decayed manhood on display, stumbling toward him.

Sam swung his machete at a downward arch and sliced the Walkers calf and sent it to the one quick motion he sliced its head in half.

He heard the girl scream again. He turned and saw her panting heavily and with a look of pure fear in her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Sam took a step forward and the girl sliped back as he reached out.

Sam looked down at his hand. Blood. Fresh blood.

He must've looked quite scary to the poor girl.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya'," he told her gently.

She gave him a strange look. "You talk funny."

_I just save her life and she says that I talk funny._ "Uh, yeah I suppose I do. But are you ok?" She nodded and got to her feet. "Can you tell me your name?"

She nodded. "I-I'm Sophia."

"Hello Sofia my name's Samuel, Samuel Conall, but you can call me Sam. Now if you don't mind me asking, are you all alone out here?"

She shook her head and Sam looked around as if to say, _Well where are your parents?_

"I got separated. Rick told me to keep the sun on my left shoulder. They're at the highway."

Sam had no idea where the highway was and he didn't exactly have a map on hand but he couldn't exactly leave the poor girl.

"Do you know which way the highway is Sophia?" She shook her head. "Do you know if this fellow named Rick is close by?" Another shake. "Ok, alright then uhh…"

Sam grabbed a rag from his pack and began wiping the blood from his hands and machete. "Well I can't exactly leave you here can I?"

Sophia didn't say anything.

"So how about you stick with me for a bit. I'll try and help you find your parents-"

"My mom," Sophia interrupted, "My dad died."

"My condolences," she just shrugged. "Well anyway, since there's no highway that way," Sam pointed from the direction he had been walking from, "I'm willing to bet that it's from the direction you came from."

Sophia nodded uneasily.

"Look, we only got about two hours of sunlight left, how long have you been out here?"

"All day." _Shit._

"Ok well… shit. Hopefully, you didn't wander too far."

* * *

They hadn't found anything in those two hours other than the occasional Walker that came stumbling out of the woods. Sam took care of them quickly and quietly. He tried not to use his gun unless he absolutely had too.

Sophia had managed to keep up with him through the time that they were together but she was just so damn loud.

She stopped around the woods and her breathing was so loud. Sam was sure that they would be discovered by a group of Walkers at one point but Sophia had managed to calm her breathing enough so that they weren't discovered.

Now the two of them were sitting around a small fire that Sam had made eating out of one of his cans of beans.

As far as nights go Sam had worse ones. He had definitely had better ones, but most certainly worse ones.

"Sam, do you think we'll find my mom?" Sophia asked as she took another mouthful of food.

He nodded. "Course. I mean as long as we keep going that way then I'm sure we'll find 'em by tomorrow. Now come on, we need to get some sleep," Sam told her as he got off the ground and stomped out the fire.

Sam slowly began climbing the nearest tree and when he reached the top he held his hand out to Sophia.

"What are you doing?"

"What you want to sleep on the ground? What if one of 'em comes around while we're sleeping? No, it's best to sleep in the trees. Not as comfortable, but definitely safer than the ground."

She seemed to see the logic in Sam's statement since she took his hand.

Sam put her on one of the higher branches and reached into his pack and pulled out what looked like seatbelts.

"I'm just gonna strap you in. We don't want you falling out do we?" Sophia laughed as he wrapped the straps around her legs.

"Why do you talk funny?"

Sam smiled as he finished strapping her into the tree. "I'm from Ireland Sophia. I was over here when everything happened. So that's why I talk funny to you. Now you're all strapped in, don't worry you won't fall, I've been using these for a while and I haven't fallen out."

Sophia smiled and adjusted herself. "Thank you, Sam, good night."

"Night Sophia."

* * *

The sun had managed to peek through the trees, and the birds were beginning to sing. If it wasn't for the fact Sam had needed a machete and was sleeping in a tree with a lost little girl, then it would have been a great morning. But unfortunately for Sam, he did need to have a machete and was sleeping in a tree with a lost little girl that he had to get to her mother.

Sam undid the buckled that kept him in the tree and moved toward Sophia.

"Sophia, time to wake up, come on. Long day's march and all that." Sophia woke up and Sam undid the straps for her.

After each of them had used the bathroom, which consisted of bushes that were a respectful distance from each other, they began walking.

If it wasn't for the abundance of trees and the nice breeze, then Sam was sure that he would have passed out in the hot Georgia sun.

"So why were you over here?" Sophia asked me as we crossed a creek.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you said you were from Ireland, what are you doing here?"

Sam shrugged. "School trip, we were sent here to see what life was like in the south during the eighteen hundreds. It was pretty cool, at least until the dead began walking and all hell broke loose."

"Are any of your classmates still alive?"

"I don't know, my friends and I split off from the class early on, we didn't last very long," Sam said sparing her the details.

"Where'd you get that?" She pointed at his machete.

"You'd be surprised at what you can find when society collapses."

"What about that?" She pointed at the gun on his hip and the rifle slung on the side of his backpack.

"Dead soldier. He had the rifle and the pistol. Not much ammo but enough in case I get into any problems."

* * *

Sam heard Sophia's stomach growl again.

"Uh Mr. Conall, do we have anything to eat?"

"Call me Sam Sophia, and as for the food situation, I do have a few granola bars leftover but if you want I could set up a few snare traps."

"What are those?"

Sam grinned. "Come on, I'll show you."

So for the better part of an hour, Sam showed Sophia how to set up snare traps. And although the snares wouldn't catch anything right away they would still be useful and maybe they would bear some fruit… figuratively.

* * *

_BANG_

Sam whipped his head around at the sound of a gunshot.

He waited.

…

Only one. _Weird_. It was strange that someone would waste a bullet on a single Walker. Unless they were hunting. Or maybe…

"Sophia you said your people had guns right?" She nodded. "Do you think they'd of fired that shot?"

"I don't know. Daryl might've used his crossbow." _Crossbow?_ "But they might've used their guns."

They decided that the best course of action would to probably make our way to the gunshot. Even if it wasn't them, the chances of finding a dead guy with a gun was high and every bullet mattered now.

* * *

Trekking through the woods was hard and slow work.

By the time night fell Sophia and Sam were so tired that Sam wasn't sure if he could climb up a tree so they could sleep.

But luckily Sam had seen a house. It wasn't in the best shape. Part of the roof had caved in on the second floor and it could definitely use a fresh coat of paint, but other that that it looked perfect.

Sam had told Sophia to stay outside while he made sure that the house was clear.

"If any of 'em show up just yell and I'll come running," Sam had told her before going into the house with his machete in one hand and a small flashlight in the other.

Luckily it had been empty and after making sure that the house was secure so they wouldn't get any visitors in the night, the two had fallen straight to sleep.

The next day they had begun their journey to find the source of the gunshot. Sophia had named their journey.

Sam actually liked that. She was a cute kid. Despite being separated from her mom and group she seemed to be cheerful and optimistic. Two things that Sam had actually missed seeing since the beginning of it all.

* * *

"We gotta get the hell out of here!" Sam shouted as he hacked the head of a walker in half.

He didn't know where they had come from. One moment they had been checking the snares, the next dozens of Walkers had begun stumbling through the woods.

Sam had tried fighting them. He had sunk the blade of his machete into the skulls of many Walkers before he realized that he was outnumbered. So he did what he knew to do. He grabbed Sophia and ran like hell.

He could hear the snarls of the Walkers behind him and Sophia whimpering in his ear.

Their footsteps thundered against the forest floor. It was as if there were hundreds of thousands of Walkers all trying to get him.

"They're getting closer" Sophia cried clutching the doll she had when Sam had found her.

"Can you swim?" Sam demanded.

"W-why?"

"Can you swim?!"

"Yes!"

"Good. Hold onto me! If you lose your grip then start kicking and follow me!" Before she could answer Sam sped up and jumped into the fast-flowing creek he was running beside.

The water was refreshingly cold considering that he had been just running in the hot Georgia sun with a little girl on his shoulder.


	2. My Name is Samuel Conall

Sam whipped his head around rapidly as he kicked against the current.

"Sophia!" He screamed, desperately looking for her in the rushing water. "Sophia are you there?!"

Still no answer.

"Shit!" Sam kicked towards the bank and slowly pulled himself and his wet belongings out of the river.

He scanned the rushing water for any sign of the little girl but there was nothing.

"Oh fuck me! SOPHIA! Are you out there?!"

"Mr. Conall!" He looked down the river. "Mr. Conall are you there?!"

"Sophia?!" He sprinted through the trees and mud, lugging the more heavier than usual gear with him.

"Over here!" He sprung through the brush and came face to face with the little girl. He smiled and scooped her up in his arms.

"Oh thank God you're ok!" He laughed. "I thought I lost you for a second there."

He put her on the ground and saw her smile brightly.

"I'm alright Mr. Conall, I just… I lost Missy." She looked down at her shoes.

"Missy?"

"My doll. My mom got her for me and I dropped her in the river."

I lifted her head. "Hey Sophia, what do you think your mom's gonna be more glad to have? A doll or you?"

"Me," she said after a moment.

"Damn right. Now come on. We need to find out where we are."

* * *

"Truth or dare?"

"Do I have to pick Sophia?"

"Yup!"

"Alright… truth."

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at that. "No I haven't. Too busy trying to keep my grades up. Not a lot of time for that sort of thing."

Sophia seemed to accept that answer. "Your turn."

"What?"

"You have to ask me truth or dare."

Sam smiled and shook his head. "I don't remember wanting to play this game if I remember correctly."

"Come on, please? It gets boring when we just walk," she whined.

"Alright alright, truth or dare?"

"Truth!"

Sam thought it over for a minute. "Have you…. ever been outside of Georgia?"

"No. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Hmmm, how do you know how to set up those snare traps?"

"A friend of mine taught me."

"Who was he?"

Sam smiled, "I thought it was my turn."

"Come on!"

"Alright, alright fine. Michael was his name. His dad taught him, when everything went to shit, he taught me and a few others so we could all survive."

"Where is he now?"

He shrugged. "Dead probably. My friends and I got separated by a big group of 'em about a month ago. Haven't seen anyone since."

"I'm sure you'll find them."

"I hope so."

* * *

_Sophia Stay Here We Will Come Every Day._

Andrea could honestly say that she didn't see the point of coming out to the highway and waiting for a girl that wasn't going to show up. Honestly what was the point. Humoring a widow who probably lost her daughter as well? It didn't make any sense.

They had much better things to do. But no one wanted to see what was so painfully obvious. Well no one except Shane and her. But no one listened to them. They were the odd ones out.

Andrea looked up to the sky. It was a mixture of oranges and fading dark blue. The sun was beginning to disappear. There was probably only an hour before the sun went away for the night.

She placed a hand on Carol's shoulder, "We'll come again tomorrow."

Carol nodded.

"You know there's always a chance-" then Carol walked away.

Andrea just didn't get it. Everyone knew that Sophia was dead. But no one wanted to admit it.

They began packing up.

Everyone got into the car, Carol ore slowly. Desperately looking out to the woods for any sign of her daughter.

Andrea was about to tell her to get in the car when she heard it.

A whistle. A high pitched long whistle through the air.

"Sophia?" Carol whispered. "Sophia! Is that you?!

"Carol, we don't know who's-"

"Mom?!" a voice called from the woods. "Mom are you there?!"

_Holy shit! She's alive!_ Andrea got out of the car and rushed to the guard rail of the highway.

The trees rustled and Sophia came running out of the woods and into her mother's arms, both of them had tears in their eyes. Then a boy with jet black hair came out of the woods after Sophia.

Andrea's hand went for her gun. The boy's eye widened and he raised his hands. He didn't go for the gun on his hip or the rifle slung on his backpack.

"Whoa! Uh I don't want any trouble!" He had an Irish accent. Weren't many of those in Georgia.

"Who are you?!" Andrea demanded from him, gun still raised.

"I'm Samuel Conall, but uh, you can call me Sam," he said, his hands lowering.

"He saved me!" Sophia spoke up. "He took care of me!"

_Well shit. What do I do now?_

* * *

It was uncomfortably hot in the shed. Sam felt the sweat run down his back making the fabric of his shirt stick to his back. He could already tell that he was going to get a heat rash from the whole experience. His hands were also becoming chafed from the cuffs they had slapped on his wrist.

He was glad that they at least didn't chain him down and allowed him free roam of the small confined space that they had thrown him into. Small victories and all that.

After he had come out of the woods with Sophia and that blonde lady had pointed a gun at him she had taken his guns, which had pissed him off more than being imprisoned, and thrown him in the trunk of the car. Not that it had done her any good.

Fifteen-minute drive with a left turn at the five and ten-minute interval.

Once the car had stopped there had been a fair bit of yelling and debating.

From what he could tell, they didn't know what to do with him.

One wanted him out, another thought they should talk to him see what he wanted. There were a bunch of different ideas as to what to do with Sam but ultimately they decided to lock him in the shed until they could decide.

Not that Sam could fault them for that.

A strange man comes out of the woods with a little girl that they had been looking for during the apocalypse. Hell putting Sam in the shed seemed kind to him.

If only if it wasn't so goddamn hot then Sam would have had nothing to complain about.

"You awake in there?" Someone banged loudly on the door.

"Of course not!" Sam shouted back. _Man, I really need to not do that._

The door creaked open and three men walked into the stuffy shed. Sam noticed that only one had a gun, but the other one had a crossbow.

"Who are you?" the one with the gun demanded.

"Alright, revolver and a bit of a beard, you're Rick Grimes."

"How do you know that?"

"Sophia really looks up to you. You too Daryl. The crossbow gave it away. Yeah, she told me about all of you. Nothing bad I assure you. Well except about a fella named Shane, who I'm assuming is you," he pointed to the third man with a buzz cut.

"Who are you?" Rick demanded again.

"Samuel Conall."

"Where'd you come from?" Shane asked next.

"You don't know? Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

Shane grabbed Sam by the throat, "You think this is a game?!"

"Shane! Enough!" Shane released Sam. "Listen, we just need to figure out if you're a threat to us. So stop with the jokes."

Sam nodded. "Alright, I'll cut back. As to where I'm from, Ireland. Came here on a school trip. Everything went to Hell on our third day here. I was with a few friends for a while and about a month ago a big group of 'em swarmed us. I got away, don't know if the others did."

"Where'd you find the girl?" Daryl asked next.

"I don't know. It was somewhere in the woods. We were trying to get to the highway but a group of Walkers made us take a bit of a detour."

The three of them looked at one another. Shane shook his head and Daryl shrugged with indifference.

"Where were you planning on going after you got Sophia here?" Rick asked me.

"Well she said that there was a possibility of me joining you fine people," he lied. Sophia had never said anything of the sort. In fact, they never discussed what would happen after they found her mother.

"And you believed her?"

"She painted me the picture of you being a reasonable and good lot. I took her for her word. Are you're gonna make her a liar?" The just stared at him. "Look, I get you treating me like this, locking me up and whatnot, but all that I ask is you give me a chance. Surviving out there on the road, especially alone, is brutal. So all I ask is for a chance. I know that's a lot to ask nowadays, but if you do give me a chance, you will not regret it. I can assure you that."

* * *

It had been two days since they had let him out of the shed and most of the group had been avoiding him like the plague that had taken over the world. Well everyone except Sophia and her mother Carol that is. They were some of the only people that would give him the time of day, and even then Carol would look at him with suspicion.

Once again it was understandable but after a while, it got annoying how people would look at him. He hadn't done anything to anyone. He gave all the food he had over to the group since food was shared in the group.

"Hey uh, peach?" Sam looked up and saw… he forgot the name of the Asian guy.

"Sure, um what's your name again?"

"Glenn. Your Sam right?"

Sam nodded, "Aye, sorry about forgetting your name."

"It's alright. To be fair I haven't really talked to you all that much."

"No one really has." Sam looked at the basket Glenn was hauling. "Those for us?"

"Oh uh yeah, Maggie brought us some peaches and jerky."

Sam grabbed a peach and a small amount of jerky, "Nice. I never thought I'd see a peach without mold on it again. Oh, and it tastes way better than a moldy peach as well."

"Were things that bad out there?"

"Worse. When you're out there on the road by yourself you really learn to eat anything. Moldy peaches and household pets included."

"Pets?" Glenn looked horrified.

"Two things I learned. One: cats are hard to skin. Two: they taste amazing with barbecue sauce." Sam laughed when Glenn backed away and almost tripped.

Sam sat down and ate his peach in silence.

The other inhabitants of the camp were off doing their morning rituals.

Rick and Shane seemed to be in deep discussion about what the group was meant to do next now that Sophia had been found, which they had been arguing about for the past two days.

Carol was washing and hanging clothes while Lori was boiling the water that the group used. Andrea was on top of the R.V. with a rifle. Daryl was off doing whatever it was that he did. Sam never asked. To be frank the southern bowmen scared the living shit out of Sam.

Daryl seemed like the kind of man that could kill you with the flick of his wrist.

Sophia and Carl were off doing homework that their parents had given them. Sam shuddered at the thought of doing math equations. It was the apocalypse, couldn't they just let the kids be free from math?

Sam was brought out of his observations when he heard someone approaching him.

He looked up and saw Rick.

"Sheriff, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Rick gave Sam a suspicious look over before speaking. "We're going to have gun practice today. Interested?"

Sam smiled. "Are you saying that you trust me enough to let me use a gun?"

"I'm saying that you haven't caused any problems. And now I'm asking you if I can trust you?"

"Rick, if I wanted to kill you and everyone here I would have done it the night you let me out of the shed. Right when you all went to bed I could have gone into your tents and slit your throats. But I didn't, because you all seem like a decent sort and I have no intention of becoming a murderer. That being said I already know how to use a gun."

"That may be true, but for all I know, you're just saying that. I need to be sure that you know how to use a gun before I let you have one."

Sam grinned and stood up. "Alright then. When do we leave?"

* * *

Shots rang out along the firing line that they had formed twenty-five feet from the fence.

Sam saw one of the farmer's people, Jimmy he thought, firing his gun sideways. He quickly walked behind him.

"Hey, dumb ass! If you shoot like that then the shell's liable to fly into your eye!" Sam told him. "Hold it right or put the gun down."

Jimmy seemed unnerved by the young Irishman's scolding and aimed the gun properly. He hit the target that time.

"Good, keep aiming your gun like that and you'll be fine."

When they had first arrived Sam had quickly grabbed his pistol and shot down his bottles.

Shane had told him that it was impressive but that bottles weren't moving targets. He didn't even finish his sentence when Sam had aimed upward and shot a flying bird.

Rick had asked him to stick around and help those that were struggling. Thus his yelling at Jimmy for holding his pistol like a stereotypical gangster.

Mostly everyone else was a decent shot. T-Dog hit all his targets after a few tries. Lori seemed to be decent. Carl was a natural from what he could see. He never had to tell the boy anything since either Rick or Shane were there at all times.

One of the farmers' daughters had her gun aimed down at a bottle and seemed to be concentrating intensely on the target. Based on her stance and the way she was holding the gun Sam was sure she was going to miss.

She put her finger on the trigger and slowly squeezed it and… she missed.

"I think you were off a bit." Sam grinned.

She looked back and Sam saw the look of dejection on her face.

"Just a bit though. If you just close up your stance a bit then loosen up your arms you'll hit it."

She gave him a skeptical look but followed his advice. She took aim and pulled the trigger and sure enough, she hit her mark.

She beamed and smiled at Sam. "Thanks, I thought I was never gonna hit that thing."

"No problem, you just need to keep hitting the target and it'll be like second nature."

"Soon enough I'll be better than you," she smirked.

"Oh yeah, sure. You killed a bottle. I'll call you in case they ever rise and begin eating the living," Sam joked before walking away.

At the end of the practice, everyone had "killed" all of their targets. And Sam and gone up a level in Rick's eyes.

Pretty good day.

* * *

Sam was running a whetstone down the length of his machete when he heard the gate slam. He saw Glenn and the other farmers daughter barreling towards Lori.

"Hey! We got your stuff!"

"Maggie, hang on, please!" Glenn said as he tried to stop the girl.

Lori looked around and spotted Sam, her face looking more and more concerned by the minute.

"Come on in here," Lori said, trying to be discreet.

"Why? Nothing to hide! We got your special delivery right here!" Maggie dug into her bag and began pulling things out and throwing them to the floor. "We got your lotion! Got your conditioner! Your soap opera digest!"

Sam snorted at the last one.

"Maggie," Lori pleaded as she whipped her head toward Sam who was smiling as he watched everything unfold.

"Next time you want something, get it your damn self! We're not your errand boys!" Maggie continued.

"Honey, I-"

Maggie bent down and scooped something off of the ground. "And here's your abortion pills!"

"Oh damn," Sam said as he looked at both women in a sock before both Maggie and Glenn walked away.

Lori looked at Sam.

"So you're pregnant I take it?" Sam grinned.

"Don't tell. Please." Lori begged him.

"I could only tell if I heard something. And I didn't hear a thing." Sam grinned and walked away.


	3. Looking in a Bottle

Sam didn't really understand what his job was around the camp. No one had assigned him anything and all the runs seemed to be taken care of by Glenn and Maggie. Well, at least whenever they weren't avoiding each other. Or screwing.

But he was happy that he had nothing to do. After months on the road and constantly looking over his shoulder, he felt relaxed.

"Um guys," Glenn spoke up just as everyone was finishing up their breakfast. "So, uhhh… the barns full of Walkers."

_Well, there goes my good mood_ , San thought as he strapped on his belt, his machete clinking as he fastened it.

After Glenn's shocking revelation the entire group made the long walk to the barn.

Sure enough, the moans of the Walkers could be heard from the outside clear as day.

"You cannot tell me you're okay with this?!" Shane demanded.

"I'm not!" Rick spat back, "But we're guests here. This isn't our land!"

"This is our lives!"

"We can't just brush this under the rug," Andrea added.

It ain't right, not remotely," T-Dog added.

"Okay, we've either gotta go in there, we've gotta make things right, or we've just gotta go! Now we've been talking about Fort Benning-"

"What the fuck about Fort Benning?" Sam asked.

"You mind shutting your goddamn mouth!" Shane shouted into Sam's face.

"Right I'll just keep quiet about the complete death trap you want to march the group into," Sam said sarcastically.

"What?" Rick asked as he pushed past Shane.

"Oh, Rick he don't know what he's talking about!"

"Enough Shane! Let him talk! What'd you saw about Benning?"

"It's gone. Nothing but ash and the Dead. My friends and I tried to go there when everything started. When we got there it was overrun with 'em. I'm sorry, but Fort Benning's a pipe dream."

"Well, then we'll find somewhere else to hole up!" Shane insisted.

"Why would we try and find somewhere else when we've already found a safe place?" Lori demanded.

This sparked an argument among most of the group while others like Sam, Carol, Daryl, and the kids stood off just observing. As voices got raised Sam noticed shadows from within the barn shifting more and more. But he didn't say anything. _Let the pounding on the door be their wake up call_.

* * *

When everyone had calmed down they all moved back to the camp. Slowly, most keeping a wary eye on the chained wooden doors of the barn. Fresh memories of the loud creaking and constant moaning and snarling still playing in their minds.

"Conall! Get over here!"Sam heard Shane call out.

He reluctantly turned and took his sweet time shuffling toward the quick-tempered man.

"Any day now!"

Sam hid his smirk and walked normally.

"What do you want Shane?"

"I need your help on keeping watch on the barn. I don't want us to get caught with our pants down if that damn thing breaks down."

"It's lasted this long, why shouldn't it last any longer?"

Shane gave him a look of disbelief. "What you think they're people too?"

Sam gritted his teeth. "Those things killed three of my friends and stopped me from goin' home. You better believe that I know that they aren't people. But I'm not about to put down a group of Walkers just because you want to. They aren't hurtin'  
anyone."

"Not yet. But what happens when that door breaks down and they start eating Lori, or Carl, or hell man even Sophia!"

"Until that door breaks down I won't kill any of 'em. But just for you, I'll stand watch," Sam said before turning and making his way back to the barn.

* * *

If Sam had to guess he would have thought that he would have just been in watch for an hour before someone came to relieve him. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He had been staring at the barn for three hours without anyone coming to check in on  
him.

Shane was probably laughing his ass off at how he tricked Sam into taking the shitty watch.

The sound of boots crunching in dirt alerted Sam that someone was coming his way.

He turned and saw Beth coming toward him carrying a glass of what appeared to be lemonade. At least that's what Sam hoped it was. That and it was for him.

"Hey, thought you could use something cold to drink," she said, offering him the glass.

"Is that actual ice?" Sam asked as he took it.

She laughed. "Yeah, daddy always makes sure that we have some ice in the freezer."

"Generator fuel well spent," Sam said as he placed the cool glass on his neck and face. "I don't even know why I'm out here anymore."

"Your people really are scared of them aren't they?"

Sam gave her a look. "Aren't you?"

"My momma and brother are in there. They never so much as raised their hands to me. All that's wrong with them now is that they're sick."

Sam laughed bitterly. "They're sick and dead, Beth."

"They ain't dead."

"Yeah, they are. Doctors and corners everywhere agreed that they were dead. Didn't you see the broadcasts?"

She shook her head. "Daddy didn't let me. Said he didn't want to scare me."

"I didn't see the broadcasts either. I saw pretty much everything up close. Men shooting the Walkers, and yet they kept coming. I've seen the Walkers eating the living. I've seen them eating kids. It's hell on Earth. They aren't living Beth. They're  
dead. They just don't know it." There was no malice in his voice. He was just telling her the truth, as much as he knew.

"But… what if they're still in there? What if they're still alive?"

"They aren't. If they were they wouldn't try and eat their family. Or their friends. I'm sorry Beth, but they're gone."

Beth didn't say anything after that. She just stood there and tried to process what he had just said.

* * *

Beth eventually left. She gave Sam some excuse about chores.

Glenn eventually came over and Sam felt a bit of relief surged through him, thinking that he was finally getting relieved from guard duty.

"Please tell me you're here to take over," he said.

Glenn grimaced. "Sorry. Shane just thought you would want some company… and an extra hand just in case the doors broke."

"How considerate," he remarked dryly. "Did he at least give you a gun?"

Glenn shook his head. "No, he didn't."

"Well, it looks like he sees us both as equally expendable."

"Come on, it's not like the doors are gonna break down."

"I don't think they will. But Shane does, otherwise, he wouldn't have us out here."

Sam pulled out a deck of cards. "You play Poker?"

"Oh uh, I'm not good at it. I suck at lying."

"It's either this or we don't do anything at all."

Glenn opened his mouth to respond but something caught his eye and he ran off.

"Glenn?" Sam asked. He turned and saw What the other boy was running to, then he understood.

Maggie Greene was walking across the field and Glenn was going to her.

"Alone again." As Sam watched Glenn go and talk to Maggie he said screw it and made his way to the Greene house. He was done with waiting by the barn for something that wasn't going to happen.

Most of the group was standing on the porch of the house as well by the time that Sam reached it.

Most were just discussing where the group's de facto leaders were since they had been missing for most of the day. Not a word from any of them besides guard the barn.

"Here we go," Daryl said as he spotted Shane carrying the bag of guns walking towards them.

Everyone was getting nervous seeing Shane with all those guns. Sam stood up, pointing to the duffel bag. "What's all this?"

"You with me, man?" He asked Daryl, handing him a gun. Daryl grabbed it without hesitation.

"It's time to grow up. You already got yours?" He asked Andrea.

"Yeah... where's Dale?"

"He's on his way"

"I thought we couldn't carry" T-Dog grabbed a gun.

"We can and we have to" he raised his voice now, making sure they could all hear him. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe, but now we know it ain't. How about you, man?" he  
walked up to Glenn, holding out a gun. "You gonna protect your's?"

He looked at Maggie and looked at the gun, grabbing it but looking furious with himself.

"What about you Paddy?" He held out a shotgun fro took the gun and pumped a shell into the chamber.

"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight!" Maggie told him.

"We have to stay, Shane!" Carl shouted.

"What is this?" Lori came out of nowhere.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" He assured Carl. "Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? Well, he's gonna have to." He said as he got on one knee and handed Carl a revolver. "You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes, you know how. Go on, take the gun"

Lori quickly stood in between the two and snatched the gun out of Shane's hands. "Rick said no guns, this is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Oh, shit," T-Dog was looking at something in the distance. The group looked over and they all saw Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy walking... Walkers with animal catchers.

"What is that?" Shane asked no one and began sprinting towards them. Everyone else followed. "What the hell are you doin'?" Shane yelled at Rick when he was close enough.

"Shane, just back off!" Rick ordered him as he was struggling to control the walker on the leash.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel shouted to Rick.

"Are you kiddin' me? You see what they're holdin' on to?!" Shane asked the rest of the group. Sam nervously clutched the rifle as he saw Shane become more and more agitated and hostile.

"I see who I'm holdin' on to!" Hershel spat at him.

"Nah man, you don't!"

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk"

Shane began to pace as he yelled. "What do you wanna talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them cause all they do, is kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed  
Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us!" With every word that Shane yelled, the walkers became more and more agitated.

"Shane, shut up!"

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you somethin'. Could a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane asked as he pulled out his handgun and shot the walker that Hershel was holding three times in the chest.

"Stop it!" Rick was shaking with anger.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still comin'?" He shot at the walker two more times "That's its heart, it's lungs. Why is it still comin'?!" He shot at it another three times.

"Shane, enough!"

Sam raised his gun and leveled it at Shane. "Fuckin' stop this! That's enough!"

Shane slammed his fist into Sam's face and threw the shotgun away.

"Yeah, you're right man. That is enough" He was about five feet away from the bullet-ridden walker when he shot it in the head. The sudden deadweight on Hershel's leash nearly pulled him down. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before. Now, if you wanna live, if you wanna survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now!"

Sam slowly stood up and wiped the blood from his nose. He looked up just in time to see Shane ripping the chains off of the barn doors.

"Oh fuck!"

Sam scrambled for the shotgun that had been ripped out of his hands while the others had formed a **U** around the barns doors and began firing at the emerging Walkers.

Once Sam grabbed the shotgun he got to his feet and took aim.

The gunfire that they had caused was deafening. Sam would have winced at the amount of noise if he wasn't already used to hearing such things.

During the beginning of the outbreak, the sound of rapid and constant gunfire was constant. Sam's ears had rung and rung during that time. But he got used to it.

Walker after Walker fell to the ground as the group sent bullets flying into the deceased family and friends of the Greene family.

Sam was sure he could hear their sobbing. If only just barely over the sound of the guns.

When the last Walker hit the ground Sam had to fight the urge to put a bullet in Shane's head.

He had done this. He was the reason why the Greene's and their friends were on the ground crying. They didn't need to do it. To kill their already dead friends. But they had, all because of Shane.

Then they heard it. The sound of a Walker shuffling toward the barn entrance. Sam checked his gun. Empty. He knew that the others must've had the same problem as most of them turned to Rick.

The Walker came into the light, and Sam's breath hitched in his throat.

"Michael?" his voice sounded hoarse.

The Walker's head snapped to Sam. It's decaying body still showing signs of Sam's friend. The torn and bloody green shirt, the mud-covered black boots, it's face.

It was Michael.

"Fuck, I thought you would've made it," he threw the gun to the ground and faced Rick, "can I borrow your gun?"

Rick nodded and drew his pistol. "I can do it if you want."

"No, he'd kick my airse if I let someone else do it," Sam took the pistol. "Sorry Michael. I'll see you again."

The shot cracked through the air, and Michael's body fell to the ground. As lifeless as it had been when it was walking.

No one spoke. They only cried.

Well, no one cried, except for the Greene's.

They cried a lot. Over their loved ones that had departed the world so long ago, but whose bodies stayed up and walking. Trying to kill them.

Sam didn't care for their feelings right now though. He had a friend to bury.

"Rick. You can have your gun back now."

Rick took the gun and holstered it. "Are you alright?"

"I just shot my best friend in the head, Rick. I've known him since we were five. I ate dinner at his house. My family went to church with his. We fuckin' did everything together. Am I alright? You better fuckin' believe I'm not." Sam left Rick and the others standing there and picked his friend's body off the ground.

Sam knew where he would bury him. Under a tree near the edge of the property. Shaded and overlooking the fields, but still close to the woods. Michael would have liked that.

It took him an hour to dig the grave and put Michael into it. An hour spent in silence, and sadness.

But after the grave was filled, and the sound of a shovel digging into the ground had gone away, Sam took a seat and reached into his pack.

"After we split up, I found Liam washed up on the side of a creek. He had been dead for a few days. He was just covered in mud and half sunk into the ground. He never was the strongest swimmer," Sam pulled out a bottle from his pack. "He still had this  
on him though. Sentimental bastard. I poured a little on his grave and then took a swig."

Sam tilted the bottle and let the whiskey flow onto the grave. "Don't drink it too fast. That's all you're getting until we meet again. Sleep well, Michael. Goodbye, brother."

As he walked back to the farm Sam felt the stinging of tears in his eyes. It was all so fucked. He didn't know if any of his friends were alive, he was stranded in America with no way to get back to Ireland. And the two leaders of the group were in a power struggle that was bound to end in one way, blood.

Sam just hoped that Rick would wise up before anything major happened and Shane killed him. He hoped.

When he stumbled into the camp there was no one there. Not even the kids or Dale, who was always within a few feet of the R.V. every time Sam saw him.

But then he spotted someone. They were making their way to one of the blue pickup trucks that belonged to the Greenes.

He quickly sprinted over to ask what was going on when he saw the driver.

"Hershel?" Sam asked as he leaned against the passenger window."What are you doing?'

"I'm going to get drunk," He responded bluntly.

"Oh well, I didn't really expect you to be upfront about that." Hershel just stared at the boy. "Room for one more? I could use a good drink right now."

"You have some right there," Hershel pointed to the bottle hanging out of Sam's bag.

"Special occasions only, and even then one drink limit."

"Get in."

* * *

"-so then Michael looks Mr. Riley straight in the eye and says ' _I swear sir, I'm an open book. Now some of those pages are torn out or shredded to shite, and I do believe that a few chapters are in Spanish, but I am an open book!'_ And considering what he did to the library, and the fact that most of the books were Spanish books, I'm surprised he wasn't expelled right then and there."

"How is it he managed to shred half of the school's language section without anyone noticing?" Hershel asked as he refilled our glasses.

"I was always the distraction while Michael did whatever he had to do. It was just the way we worked together. We were always close. Closer than the rest of our group," Sam drained his glass and refilled it again.

"How long did you two know each other?"

Sam shrugged. "Our whole lives basically. So seventeen years I guess. Through thick and thin. Only took the apocalypse to drive us apart. We were brothers in everything but blood. I really thought that out of the two of us he would have made it. When everything happened, he had all the ideas. He knew what to do. But to see him like that…"

Sam felt a hand on his shoulder. "I understand. When I saw Shane put bullets into Lou… and then open those doors to the barn, I felt as if everything I had was gone. That my life was over, and well, I guess that's why I'm here. Hoping to find what I lost at the bottom of a bottle."

"If it makes you feel any better, that was popular before the apocalypse. My da, he would look and look, but he would never find anything, so he would come home and take it out on me."

"My father was the same. He would come home and use his fists to show me how he felt. When he died I did not go to him, and that is something I will never regret."

Sam raised his glass. "Cheers mate."

Hershel drank deeply and refilled his glass, but strangely enough, he didn't drink.

"What is it like out there?" Sam looked to Hershel with a puzzled expression. "On the road. Rick tells me that it's horrible, but from what I've gathered, he wasn't even on the road for more than a few days. So what is it like? Truly."

Sam knocked back his glass and slammed it onto the bar. His hand reached to his belt where he kept his gun and hovered it there. Doing it made him feel safe. After three months on the road, it was the only way he was able to fall asleep or feel relaxed.

By knowing that he had his gun with him. Ready to use.

"I'm not nearly drunk enough to answer that Hershel," Sam said, trying to seem light-hearted.

Hershel just nodded, "Just tell me one thing. Is it as bad as Rick makes it seem?"

Sam shook his head. "No, it's worse. Far worse."

* * *

"They thought that they were being clever. But I knew that Maggie was on the pill the moment she was through the door. Not wanting anyone to handle her bags, especially the one that had all of her toiletries. She was never like that before, but once she was home from college she was nothing if not secretive."

Sam laughed and stumbled from behind the bar, looking for the next bottle the two of them would drink.

"From what I've heard she's always been a bit of a wild card. In a good way of course."

"When she was twelve she was caught shoplifting a packet of cigarettes."

Sam shrugged. "Could be worse. She could have ruined half of the library."

Hershel opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when the two of them heard a car pull up outside of the bar.

Sam felt himself sober up some almost immediately and he hovered his hand above his pistol.

The footsteps clanked loudly against the wooden frame of the outside of the bar. Sam thought that it was two people. Then the shadows on the windows confirmed his theory.

The doorknob clicked and Sam gripped his pistol tightly, ready to draw it when needed. But then he relaxed his grip.

It was just Rick and Glenn.

"Hershel, Sam," Rick said as he strolled into the bar.

"Rick, come on in. Want a drink?"

"Who's with you?" Hershel asked instead of greeting them.

"Glenn."

"Maggie sent him?"

Sam stepped away from the bar and let them talk.

"How many have you two had?"

"Not enough," Hershel said as he swirled the contents of his glass.

"I was just about done," Sam said as he set the bottle he had found on the bar.

"Let's finish this up back at home," Rick whispered. "Beth collapsed. In some sort of state. Must be in shock, I think you two are as well."

"Maggies with her?"

"Yeah, but Beth needs you."

Hershel scoffed and took a drink. "What could I do? She needs her mother, or rather, to mourn. Like she should have done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."

"You thought there was a cure," Rick reasoned, "You can't blame yourself for holding onto hope."

Hershel finished his glass and set it down. "Hope?" He smiled and faced Rick, "When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had a little hope he would survive."

"He did."

Hershel nodded. "He did. Even though we lost man Shane made it back, and we saved your boy. _That_ was the miracle that proved to me that miracles do it was a sham. A bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick. And your people saw that… my daughters deserved better than that."

He began to pour again. And Rick walked back to talk with Glenn.

"What do we do? Wait for him to pass out?" Glenn tried to whisper quietly.

"Just go!" Rick turned and faced Hershel. "Just go!"

"I promised Maggie I would bring you home safe."

Hershel chuckled. "Like you promised that little girl? If it wasn't for Sam she would have died!"

Rick stormed over to the bar. "So what's your plan? Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"

Hershel shot up from his stool. "Stop telling me how to care for my family! For my farm. You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, give you shelter, and you destroy it all!"

"The world was already in bad shape when we met," Rick pointed out.

"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!"

"Well I'm here now aren't I?!" Rick shouted, finally losing his cool.

"Yes. Yes… yes you are," Hershel sat down.

"Come on! Your girls need you now, more than ever," Rick put his hand on Hershel's, but the old farmer brushed it away.

"I didn't want to believe you. You told me there was no cure, that those people were sick! I didn't want to believe you/ but when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been. That Annette, and Shawn, and even Sam's friend Michael had been dead and I was feeding rotting corpses! That's when I knew there was no hope!" He turned and faced Sam. "And when that boy came out of the barn, the look on your face, that's when I knew there was no hope. That there was no hope for any of us."

Sam looked to the ground and Rick looked to Glenn who shook his head.

Cautiously Sam walked over to Hershel.

"Hershel. Listen, I think we should get back-"

"Oh, not you too!"

"Listen to me! Do you want to be like our fathers? A man who practically lives in a bar only to come home when it's too late? Because let me tell you right now old man, that's where you're heading, and if you get there your children will hate you. I hated mine… you hated yours. What makes you think your kids'll be any different?"

"Look I'm done, I'm not doing this anymore!" Rick said once he was done talking to Glenn."Cleaning up after you. Do you know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death, it's always been there, whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker, what's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on, even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what, this-this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

The bar was quiet. Glenn stood by the door shifting the weight of his gun between his hands. Sam looked on at Hershel and Rick, a bit of respect for the former sheriff in his eyes.

Hershel though, he knocked back the last of his whiskey and slammed it on the bar. He was done drinking.

Sam smiled and patted the old farmer on the shoulder.

Then the doors opened, and Sam felt the need to grab his pistol again.

"Son of a bitch, they're alive." Two men had just walked into the bar, and Sam thought that they could not have looked more different.

One was a muscular man in a tank top and surprisingly enough, he seemed to have some sort of product in his hair.

The other would have been a poster child for American obesity. He had a plain white shirt and was wearing a hat, but Sam was more concerned with the shotgun he had in his hands rather than what he was wearing. And from Rick's face, so was he.

The two of them smiled and laughed at the sight of living people. They pulled up chairs and sat down, but not before grabbing a half-full bottle of whiskey and pouring themselves some.

"I'm Dave," the skinny one introduced himself, "the scrawny looking douche bag there is tony."

"Eat me, Dave."

"Hey, maybe someday I will." He laughed at his own joke. "We met on I-95, coming out of Philly. Damn shit show that was."

"I'm Glenn," he said with a broad grin, "It's nice to meet some new people."

"Rick Grimes."

"Samuel Conall."

Dave smiled, "What's that accent? Irish?" Sam nodded. "So you got stranded out here huh?"

"Me and a couple of my friends. They didn't make it. Rick and Hershel here were kind enough to let me tag along with them."

Dave took a sip of his drink and looked to Hershel. "How about you pal, you want one?"

"I just quit."

"You got a unique sense of timing my friend." Sam could tell he wasn't going to like this guy.

"Like Sam said his name's Hershel. They lost people today."

Dave actually looked sorry. "I'm truly sorry to hear that. To better days and new friends. And to our dead, may they be in a better place."

Sam dumped a little of his whiskey on the floor before drinking like the others.

Dave set his glass down and both rick and Sam saw the gun that was in his waistband.

"Not bad, huh?" he grabbed the gun and held it out to Rick. "I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop."

"This one was already dead." Dave and Tony both laughed.

"You two are a long way from Philadelphia," Sam said.

"You're a long way from Ireland," Tony retorted.

"Not by choice."

"Well, to be honest, it feels like we're a long way from anywhere," Dave interrupted.

"What drove you south?" Rick questioned.

"Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here." Sam had to give him that, it was hot in Georgia. "No first it was D.C. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed we never got close. We decided to get off the highways and into the sticks."

Sam nodded, it was what his original group had done when Atlanta turned out to be bullshit.

"Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."

"One guy told us there was a coast guard sitting in the gulf, sending ferries to the islands."

"The latest was a rail yard running trains to the middle of the country, Kansas, Nebraska."

"Nebraska?" Glenn asked.

"Low population, lots of guns," Tony chuckled.

"Kinda makes sense," Glenn said.

"You ever been to Nebraska kid?" Dave asked, and Glenn shook his head. "A reason they call 'em flyover states."

Sam noticed a shared look between Dave and Tony.

"How about you guys?"

"Just drifting right now," Rick told them, "We were originally going to go to Fort Benning but Sam told us that it was gone."

Dave laughed. "Gone is an understatement, my friend. We ran across a grunt that was stationed at Benning and he said that the whole place was either overrun by lame brains or burnt to the ground. Truth is, there is no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab ahold of you in your sleep."

"If you sleep," Tony added.

"You know it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"

Sam put his hand near his gun. "We actually just got out of a pretty bad spot. Walkers came out of nowhere, swarmed out camp. We were the only ones to make it out. That's how Hershel lost his family."

Rick gave Sam a discreet nod.

Dave nodded "Well we're thinking about setting up around here. Is it safe?"

"It can be," Glenn told them. "Although I've killed a couple of Walkers around here."

"You both called 'em that, Walkers. That what you call 'em?" They all nodded. "That's good. I like that. I like that better than lamebrains."

"So since Bennings a bust where you guys thinking about setting up? The outskirts, that new development?

Tony got up and waddled across the bar "A trailer park or something? A farm?"

Dave began singing " _Old McDonald_ ". "You got a farm?"

No one said anything as the tension in the room rose, and the sound of Tony pissing in the corner filled the room.

"Is it safe?"

"It's gotta be."

"You got food water?"

Sam met Ricks's eyes and shot him a look that said ' _These guys are casing us. We need to go.'_

"You got cooze? Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks," Rick gave Sam a look that told him that he knew.

"Listen pardon my friend, you see city kids they got no tact. No disrespect. So listen, Glenn-"

"We've said enough." Rick interrupted.

"Well hang on a second. This farm, it sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet Tony?'

"Yeah, real sweet."

"How about a little southern Hospitality?" Sam's hand closed around the grip of his pistol. "We got some buddies back at camp, been having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We could pull our resources, our manpower!"

"Look I'm sorry that's not an option," Rick told them.

Sam knew what would come next.

"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem."

"I'm sorry we can't," Hershel told them.

Dave laughed. "You guys are something else. I thought- I thought we were friends."

"Drinking buddies aren't always the best friends," Sam told him.

"Look we just got people we gotta look out for too."

"And so do we," Sam told him.

"We don't know anything about you," Rick pointed out.

Dave nodded, "No that's true. You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go throughout there, things we've had to do."

' _I bet you enjoyed them too'_ Sam thought as he kept an eye on the fat one, who seemed to be glaring at Rick.

"I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself, am I right?" Rick continued to meet Dave's gaze.

"You don't survive the Apocalypse with clean hands," Sam said.

"True enough," Dave smiled. "So come on, let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other."

Rick looked down at his glass. "That's not gonna happen."

' _And now they know for sure we've got a farm,'_ Sam thought to himself.

"This is bullshit!" Tony yelled.

"Calm down," Rick ordered him.

"Don't tell me to calm down! Don't ever tell me to calm down!"

"Alright let's just all take it easy!" Sam said taking his hand off his gun for a split second.

"I'll shoot you four assholes in the head and take your damn Farm," in less than a second Rick was on his feet and Sam's hand was back on his pistol, ready to draw.

Dave rushed to get between the two. "Whoa Whoa Whoa! Relax. Take it easy. Nobody's killing anybody. Nobody's shooting anybody right Rick?" Dave hoped over the bar so that Rick was sandwiched between him and Tony.

Rick's hand went to his gun and Tony reached for his. Sam slowly drew his but kept it hidden behind the bar. Dave placed his on the bar in clear view so that Rick wouldn't see him as a threat.

"We're just friends having a drink, that's all. Now, where's the good stuff?" Dave bent behind the bar and Rick placed his hand on his gun again. Dave came back up smiling, carrying a bottle of whiskey. "Hey! Look at that! That'll work."

Everyone was beginning to become unhinged. Sam could see Glenn glancing around the room nervously and Hershel eyed Dave with a look of both fear and distaste.

"You gotta understand Rick, we can't stay out there. You know what it's like."

"Yeah, I do. But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry. You'll have to keep looking."

"Keep look- where do you suggest we do that?"

"I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice." Sam smirked.

Dave laughed. "Nebraska," Sam saw his give a look to Tony and raise his eyebrows, "These guys."

Dave lunged for his gun but Rick drew first and sent a round into his chest splattering the wall behind him with blood.

Sam raised his gun and shot Tony in the head before he could even lift his shotgun. Tony pulled the trigger of his gun as his heavy body fell to the floor.

All happened in less than a second. Both dead before they hit the ground.

' _Well fuck.'_


	4. Knowledge

"We need to go." Sam broke the silence that had taken a hold of the bar since the shots had been fired. "Now."

He went to Tony's body and grabbed his shotgun. "Hershel, you still know how to shoot?"

"I know how but I don't enjoy it."

"I'm not asking you to enjoy it, just to keep them away."

"Wait a minute, just hold on, we need to be smart about this. They probably have more people," Rick pointed to where Dave's corpse was, "He said as much."

As if on cue the four of them heard a car pull up and men begin talking.

"Shit, cover!" Sam whispered as everyone took cover near the front of the bar.

Several male voices began talking about the men that Rick and Sam had just killed.

"What do we do?" Glenn whispered.

"Rick, how many of them can you see?" Sam asked the sheriff.

"Three, I think there's only three."

"Armed?"

"Shotguns and pistols," Rick said as he looked away from the curtain.

"Did you guys check the bar?" a voice asked from outside the bar.

"Uh no we didn't."

"What we're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the goddamn bar?" Multiple pairs of footsteps pounded on the ground as they neared the bar.

Sam felt his pulse quicken and he took aim at the door.

The doorknob jiggled and opened an inch, but Glenn used his body to keep it shut.

"Whoa what was that?"

"Did someone push it shut?"

"Hello?" the first voice asked. "Hey, we're not looking for trouble! We just want to find our friends!" Sam saw Rick's knuckles turn white. "W just-"

"They drew on us!" Rick shouted. Sam grimaced, he knew more people were about to die.

"What?"

"What'd he say?"

"They drew on us! We had no choice!"

The men outside began talking amongst themselves.

"What do we do?" Glenn asked once more.

Sam looked at Rick, "We should-"

"Take this asshole!" Gunshots sounded through the street and into the bar.

Sam docked and saw as wooden splinters went into the air wherever bullets hit.

"Get to the back!" Sam yelled as he fired at the front of the bar, bullets making holes in the dark wood of the door.

Glenn made it through the door first, then Hershel.

"Sam get in there!" Rick yelled as he fired at the front of the bar.

Sam ducked through and enter the storeroom behind Hershel.

The firing stopped and the four of them caught their breath as the adrenaline began to leave their systems.

Sam looked up and saw a shadow in the window of the door. Without thinking he raised his gun and fired, shattering the glass on the door and whoever was there running off.

"Glenn take point," Sam said as he slammed a new clip into his gun. "I'll cover you, Hershel you stay back."

"Wait they're probably waiting for us," Rick told Sam.

"That's why I'll cover him. Rick, we'll do this, you and Hershel'll cover the back in case they come in from the bar. If there's three of them then that's good, they don't know how many of us there are. We can use that. If they don't know how many there are of us, then they'll be cautious. They're scared right now. Let's use it."

Rick gave Sam a strange look. "How do you know this? How do you know what their thinking?"

Sam grimaced as if he had said too much. "Later."

"No right now."

"Rick, there are men trying to kill us right now. If you want to talk later then fine, but let's just survive the night right now, yeah?"

Rick scowled but nodded. "As soon as this is over I want an explanation."

"Glenn, let's go!" Sam turned back to Rick. "We'll get the car Hershel and I came in and pull up back. We'll run for it, and get the hell out of here."

Glenn opened the door and slowly took a step out. He checked both sides of the alley, carefully. He kept his shotgun up and took a step out.

Sam's body was practically hugging the door, his feet crushing the shards of broken glass. He kept his eye and gun leveled in the opposite direction of where Glenn was aiming. He saw the tiniest of twitches of movement in his peripheral. A man. But more importantly, a man with a gun.

The man managed to fire his gun twice before Sam turned and sent a round into his gut and chest. But he wasn't dead, Sam could see his writhing on the floor in pain, and groaning loudly as he clutched his wounds.

Sam looked to where Glenn had been but only saw his shoes sticking out from behind the dumpster. Then he heard snarling.

"Shit," he said, "Walkers! We got a lot of 'em coming!"

One by one they began coming out of the darkness. The screams belonging to the man that Sam had shot drew more in. The began to close in on him, making his screams go from pain to terror.

"Glenn! You good?" Sam didn't get an answer.

"Sam what's going on?" Rick questioned him.

"He shot at me. Glenn's behind the dumpster. I don't think he's hit, just scared." Sam said, there was no judgment in his voice though. He had been there himself once, not anymore.

Rick slowly stepped into the alley, a gun raised in either direction. "You hit?" He asked as he approached the dumpster. "Are you hit?"

Sam looked away from the man he had shot toward the dumpster.

"No. No." Sam sighed with relief when he heard Glenn's voice.

Sam got out of cover and made his way to Glenn. "Glenn, don't worry, you still in control of your bowels?" Glenn gave Sam a look but nodded. "That's good. Me, the first time I got under fire, I shit myself so bad I smelled for a week. If you didn't shit yourself then you're already loads better at keeping your cool then me."

Glenn cracked a smile despite himself.

"Ok, the cars right there," Rick said, "We're almost home. You two good?"

"I'm good," Glenn said.

"Aye, I'm good. Let's go."

"Ok, let's go." Rick popped out of cover with Glenn trailing him. As soon as they were a few inches from the dumpster however, gunshots began to pepper the area forcing them back into cover.

"Back, get back!" Rick ordered Glenn as a shot pinged the dumpster.

"I see him!" Sam said as he lifted his head out of cover. "On the roof of the Pharmacy. Out of range for our guns."

An SUV pulled up and stopped in front of the pharmacy just then.

"Come on we gotta get out of here! Roamers all over the place!" the diver shouted at the man on the roof.

"What about Sean?" Sam looked toward the man he had shot who was still rolling on the floor in pain. Not an ounce of guilt in him.

"They shot him! We gotta go! Roamers are everywhere!" The driver shouted. "Jump!"

The boy on the roof tried to hop down but failed in such a spectacular fashion that had money been worth anything other than wiping your ass, Sam would have felt like he owed the boy some.

He began to scream and begged the driver for help, but the driver shouted that he had to go. He said that he was sorry, but that didn't slow the car down as he drove away.

"Sam with me, Glenn get Hershel," Rick ordered as he got out of cover and made his way to the boy who was screaming for help.

Sam and Rick sprinted across the street and found that the dumbass that had jumped off the roof had impaled his leg onto a fence.

"Help me! Please help me!" He kept begging.

Sam examined the wound as Rick shoved his gun in the man's face, yelling for him to shut up.

Hershel and Glenn came forward just a few seconds later.

"Sam! Rick! We have to go now." Hershel informed the two.

"NO!" the boy sobbed.

Rick shushed him

"I'm sorry son," Hershel told the boy. "We have to go."

The boy sprang up. "No don't leave me Please!"

"We have to go Rick, now!" Sam told him.

"We can't!" Rick told them.

"He was just shooting at us!" Glenn bellowed.

Sam heard more Walkers and saw that they were beginning to fill the streets.

"He's a kid!"

"This place is crawling with Walkers!" Sam told the sheriff.

"We can't leave him!"

"The fence went clean through, there's no way we can get the leg off in one piece," Hershel said as he examined the wound.

"Then fucking chop it off or put a bullet in him, either way, we gotta go!" Sam shouted as he fired at the incoming Walkers, Glenn taking up position beside him.

The boy began to scream again.

"Shut up! Shut up or I will shoot you!" Rick threatened.

"Do it!" Sam shouted. "He won't make it! That leg's gone, and he'll lose to much blood! We need to go!"

"Why don't we just cut off his leg?" Glenn asked as he stopped shooting.

"Will this cut through bone?" Sam tuned them out and began focusing on the Walkers. He saw Glenn beside him again.

They began shooting them as quickly as possible but there were simply too many of them.

"We need to go now!" Sam shouted at the others. "I'm almost out of ammo!"

"Do it now Hershel!"

"There's no time!" Hershel abandoned the preparations to amputate the boy's leg and climbed down from the fence. The walkers were beginning to close in on them and the boy would not shut up.

Then Rick tore the kids' leg off of the fence, and he screamed louder than a banshee.

* * *

The ride back was a long one.

Having a radio was one of the things that Sam missed the most since it would help with the terrible awkward silences that were his family's car drives.

But the silence that occupied the car now, was worse than that to him. It was more… deathly quiet than awkwardly quiet. And with good reason, because Sam never remembered having a boy with a hole the size of a golf ball in his leg tied up in the back of his family's car. And if there was one then his dad was worse than he originally thought.

"We're coming up on the farm," Rick told everyone.

"I need a nap," Sam said.

"Well, you can get one. After our talk. Yeah, I didn't forget about that."

"Fine, talk first, nap later."

When the car Stopped Rick climbed out first and hugged Carl and Lori, while Glenn received a hug from Maggie, and Hershel and Sam were standing there feeling just a tab bit left out.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery," Hershel said as he stormed into his house.

"Who the hell is that?!" T-Dog asked, pointing to the boy named Randall they had duct-taped in the back seat of the car.

"His names Randall," Sam told them. "He tried to kill us."

Rick explained to the group his reasoning for bringing the boy back but, as Sam expected, not many liked the idea of having him there.

Shane was the most… vocal about his displeasure.

"Look at this folks, we back in Fantasyland!" He shouted as he attempted to leave the dining room.

"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet!" Hershel yelled. "Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all, this is my farm. Now I wanted you gone, Rick talked me out of it-"

"Bad move Rick," Sam muttered under his breathe.

"- but that doesn't mean I have to like it! So do us both a favor- keep your mouth shut."

Shane walked away without saying a word.

Everyone else began leaving as well. Glenn got dragged to the kitchen to talk with Maggie, Carol went after Daryl. And everyone else just scattered.

"Sam," he turned and saw Rick, "how about that talk now."

"Of course."

"Not here. Come with me."

Rick led Sam away from the house and to a secluded spot of the farm. From what Sam had gathered, they had killed a Walker that was stuck in a well near the place they were at.

"So Sam, how did you know so much about those guys?"

"I wasn't with them if that's what you're asking. As to how I know about how they think. That's a complicated story."

"We got nothing but time."

"Rick, before I tell you this, let me just tell you one thing. What I told Dave and Tony, you don't survive the Apocalypse with cleave hands, that's true for everyone."

Rick stepped closer. "So what, you've killed people?"

"Robbed and killed," Sam admitted. "We were hungry and desperate. It was an accident the first time. And then easier the second. We did it for a month-"

Ricks fist connected with Sam's jaw and he went sprawling on the floor.

"Ah, fuck!"

"What else have you done?"

"That's it! What you think I've done worse? Do you think I've raped people?! I was hungry Rick, not looking for a fuck! I was focused on surviving!"

"So that makes you better?"

"Fuck no! It just means that I didn't cross a line that most do. Am I better than most people? Fuck no! But I still have standards!"

Rick was silent and Sam saw his hand twitch for his gun, but the sheriff never drew.

"If I ever think, that you're a threat to this group… I'll kill you."

Sam scoffed. "I could have lied Rick. I could've told you I just fought raiders."

"Yeah, you could've."

"Just remember that Rick," Sam turned to walk away.

"Sam," he turned and looked back at Rick. "Your gun. Leave it."

Sam hesitated, but he unbuckled his gun belt and dropped it to the floor. He got a certain satisfaction knowing Rick had to bend down and pick it up.


End file.
